No smoke alarms in fire that destroyed trailer on Ord Road

The trailer at 1357 Ord Road is uninhabitable after a fire on Aug. 19, 2015.

(GLYNN BROTHEN / iNFOnews.ca)

August 19, 2015 - 1:52 PM

KAMLOOPS — A fire could have gone much worse at the Apple Valley Trailer Park according to a Kamloops Fire Rescue Inspector.

Ray Webster says there were no smoke alarms detected in a trailer which went up in flames around 10 a.m. today, Aug. 19.

“This could have been far worse,” he says.

A neighbour was using a propane torch to patch the roof of trailer number 25 at 1357 Ord Road when he saw smoke, Webster says. Luckily, the woman who was inside sleeping got out before the fire spread throughout the home which is now uninhabitable.

“(The fire) was probably well underway before he saw the smoke,” Webster says.

He adds to prevent similar fires from happening, people using torches should “do it on a cooler day and do it in pairs."

As of noon, Emergency Social Services volunteers were on scene to assist the woman who resided in the trailer.

To contact a reporter for this story, email Glynn Brothen at gbrothen@infonews.ca, or call 250-319-7494. To contact the editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.

OPINION At least part of me wasn’t sure I should write this, given what happened last time. It was August 15, 2003 and like many Thursdays before it, I was scratching around for a column idea. The summer newsroom